Central to the University of Waterloo’s mission is the creation and dissemination of knowledge. As new scholars, graduate students are expected to disclose and publicly defend their research results to ensure review from their peers and acceptance and inclusion of their findings in open scholarly discourse. At times, graduate students may wish to protect their research results, particularly when they contain material of commercial or marketable value, or when restricted by a publication agreement. Similarly, students may require accessibility accommodations or engage in sensitive research areas which may present personal risks. These unique circumstances may result in a thesis and/or thesis defence being Held Without Public Disclosure.
The following theses have been submitted to the Faculty of Science Graduate Office and are available, unless otherwise noted, for review by any member of the University during the display period only. The display period is the time between the posting of the thesis and the examination date.
April PhD Defences
Wednesday, April 1, 2026 at 10:00:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Sam HIRNIAK
Title: Economic evaluations of hemophilia A interventions in Canada
Supervisor: Andrea Edginton and William WL Wong
Department: School of Pharmacy
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Thursday, April 2, 2026 at 9:30:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Devashish TUPKARY
Title: Rigorous Security Proofs for Practical Quantum Key Distribution
Supervisor: Norbert Lütkenhaus
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: QNC 2101
Tuesday, April 7, 2026 at 9:00:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Karyn ROBICHAUD
Title: Investigating mitochondrial microRNAs in response to metabolic disruption
Supervisor: Paul Craig
Department: Biology
Location/Method: MC 2017
Tuesday, April 7, 2026 at 9:00:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Pei LI
Title: Development of Nanozyme and Nanozyme-Enhanced Electrode for Electrochemical Lactate Sensing
Supervisor: Shirley Tang
Department: Chemistry
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Tuesday, April 7, 2026 at 10:00:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Paula JOFILY DE LIMA RANGEL
Title: Computational Structural Biology in Modern Integrative Discovery Pipelines
Supervisor: Subha Kalyaanamoorthy
Department: Chemistry
Location/Method: C2 361
Tuesday, April 7, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Christian THERRIEN
Title: The effect of exotic species on native species reintroductions: Ontario’s lake trout reintroductions
Supervisor: Heidi Swanson
Department: Biology
Location/Method: B1 266
Wednesday, April 8, 2026 at 9:00:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Alexander UMBACH
Title: Ecology of nitrifiers within engineered freshwater systems
Supervisor: Josh Neufeld
Department: Biology
Location/Method: B1 266
Wednesday, April 8, 2026 at 9:30:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Mira MAXIMOS
Title: Sex- and-Gender-Based Analyses of Penicillin Allergy Labels, Outcomes, and Delabeling Interventions
Supervisor: John-Michael Gamble
Department: School of Pharmacy
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Thursday, April 16, 2026 at 3:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Alexandra KUNERT
Title: Late Paleoproterozoic ocean redox history from sedimentary thallium and uranium isotopes and implications for eukaryotic evolution
Supervisor: Brian Kendall
Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
May 2026 PhD Defences
Tuesday, May 5, 2026 at 9:30:00 AM
PhD Candidate: José de Jesús PADUA ARGÜELLES
Title: Studying quantum gravity 𝘷𝘪𝘢 simplicial Lorentzian path integrals
Supervisor: Bianca Dittrich
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: PHY 308
Tuesday, May 5, 2026 at 10:00:00 AM
PhD Candidate: Zheng ZHOU
Title: Studying Conformal Field Theories in Three Dimensions with the Fuzzy Sphere
Supervisor: Roger Melko and Yin-Chen He
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Wednesday, May 6, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Kartar SINGH
Title: Cholesterol and Amyloid β Modulation of Receptor Tyrosine Kinase Signaling in Neural Cell Models
Supervisor: Mike Beazely and Zoya Leonenko
Department: School of Pharmacy
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
Thursday, May 14, 2026 at 12:00:00 PM
PhD Candidate: Jinmin YI
Title: Disorder Effects in Topological Phases of Matter
Supervisor: Anton Burkov
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: Remote via MS TEAMS
April MSc Defences
Wednesday, April 8, 2026 at 9:00:00 AM
MSc Candidate: Felix LAWSON
Title: Development and integration of technology into the monitoring of bats
Supervisor: Hugh Broders
Department: Biology
Location/Method: MC 4064
Thursday, April 9, 2026 at 10:00:00 AM
MSc Candidate: Danny MENG
Title: Putting Humpty-Dumpty back together: characterizing coherent recombination in Stern-Gerlach interferometers
Supervisor: James Martin
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Location/Method: PHY 308
Monday, April 13, 2026 at 9:00:00 AM
MSc Candidate: Nathanael WILLMS
Title: Microbial Methane Oxidation and Community Dynamics in Southern Ontario Landfill Cover Soils
Supervisor: Laura Hug
Department: Biology
Location/Method: STC 2002
Tuesday, April 14, 2026 at 1:00:00 PM
MSc Candidate: Amy LACEY
Title: Evaluating Mercury Deposition over Space and Time in Critical Nesting Habitat for Endangered Whooping Crane (Wood Buffalo National Park)
Supervisor: Roland Hall and Brent Wolfe
Department: Biology
Location/Method: B1 266
Thursday, April 16, 2026 at 10:00:00 AM
MSc Candidate: Khatoon MOTAKEFGHOMI
Title: Modelling TCE Contaminant Transport in Fractured Bedrock and Evaluating Bedrock Vapour Extraction using Comp Flow BioF at CTL-III, Santa Susana Field Laboratory
Supervisor: Andre Unger and Ken Walton
Department: Earth and Environmental Sciences
Location/Method: EIT 2053